Wood-veneered metal object.



TTED sTATEs LEMUEL COBURN, OF HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS.

WOOD-VENEERE D METAL OBJECT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

PATENT cl nics.

8 Application filed June 22, 1905. Serial No. 266,5;6.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEMUEL CoBURN, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Hol oke, in the county of Hampden and State 0 Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Wood- Veneered Metal Objects, of which the following is a specification. v 3

This invention'relates to structural material, and especially to material from which articles'having an external ap earance of wood may be made, the body of t e material,

however, being of metal, the object of the inventionbeing to provide a structural material consisting of a metal body having a covering or coating of wood veneer secured thereto in a manner to make it closely and permanently adherent to the metal, but of such a nature .as to provide for the differences in expansion and contraction which are very marked, because of the fact that the metal is affected by changes in tem erature alone,

whereas the wood is practica y only effected by hygrometric condltions.

Having these ends in view, the invention consists in providing a metal body, as a plate, bar, or tube, with a layer of a practically-nonabsorbent material secured thereto by a suitable adhesive and a covering of wood veneer laid over this material and secured to it by an adhesive substance, said non-absorbent body consisting of aper or a substance or material having siml ar characteristics which,

while its opposite surfaces may be closely united with the metal and with the veneer,- that ortion thereof between these surfaces may e unaffected by the-adhesive, and thus remain free to yield more or less to accommodate itself to the variations ofthe relative ppsitions of the metal and the wood veneerr ithout the interposition of a yielding body thewide differences in expansion and contraction between the wood and the metal would eventually cause the veneer to crack away from the metal, producing a sort of-a blister, which would permit of the easy fracture of the veneer at that point,- but the interposition of a tough yieldm body between the veneer and the metal an to which both are adherent provides working room for both of these materials under the strains due to their contraction and expansion. As illustrating this point and showing the necessity of providing for the relative movement of these twomaterials if a piece of metal to which the veneer has been ap lied Without theinterposition of a ielding odybe supjected to a relatively 'gh temperature and then be suddenly shifted to a lower or falling temperature in the presence of moisture it Patented Feb. 20, 190.6. I

will be seen that while the metal would be subject to contraction, owing to the reduction of tem 'erature, the wood, on the contrary, woul be more or less expanded, owing,

to the presence of moisture, thereby sub jecting the binding material between the wood veneerand the metal to a very great strain, and as demonstrated in practice this eventually becomes a destructive strain.

' I am: aware that a woven fabric hasbeen used as a binder between the metal and the wood because of the fact that it would ab-- sorb the liquid adhesive and would for this reason prove more adherent to the metal and wood, respectively; but in practice this proves invention. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of'a.

metal bar having a wood veneer applied to the two sides and edges thereof according to this invention. Fig. 3 is a, perspective view of a piece of metal tubing having. the wood veneer applied to its outer surface. Fig.- 4 shows another form of metal tubing to -which thenveneerhas been applied, this tube Fig-.5 isapiece of 7 being open on one side. angle-iron having its two outer. surfaces covered with the wood veneer.

These various illustrations are provided merely toshow several applications of the invention to well-known structural forms of metal amon the very many to which it is a plicable, and in the drawings 0 indicates t e "metal plate or bar shown in Figs. 1 and 2. 6

indicates the metal tube in the forms shown in Figs. 13 and 4, and 0 indicates the iece of angle-iron which is the metal body s own in 5. In each of the figures (1 indicates the layer or body .of the more or less flexible nonabsorbent material which is interposed bepaper might be used, providin it had the veneer without destroying the slightly-yield- "this non-absorbentbody consists of a sheet of ing of which is too expensive to permit it to tween the metal body and the wood veneer, yvhich latter in all of the figures is indicated )V c. i

y In carrying this'invention into practice the surface of the metal body to which the wood veneer is to be applied has applied thereto a layer or body of non-absorbent flexible material 1, which is attached to the metal by means of a suitable adhesive, Preferably relath ely thick long-fibered paper suitably sized to the end that the adhesive substance, which is generally in liquid form, may not penetrate the'fibers constituting the body of the material between its twosurfaces, which would operate upon the hardening of the adhesive to make this body a hard and unyielding-sheet of material. Other material than same qualities whereby the su aces thereof might be glued to the metal and to the wood ing nature of the material between these surfaces. After 'this ynabsorbent body has been secured to the surface of the metal body and the adhesive has become dry the 'wood veneer e is applied to the outer surfaceof the non-absorbent ma no se v a means 0 a suitable glue or cement, the veneer being pressed closel to the surface to which it is applied until t e glue or cement has become set. V a

By means of the invention described herein a structural material is provided which is applicable to the construction of a cat many articles in which thestrength o the metal body is required and inwhich a metal surface is either inappropriate or'the finish- .mat

' v I Witnesses:

be used; but when covered withthe wood veneer it is not open to these objections.

The invention'is especially adapted to the construction of bedsteads or bookcases or articles of like nature in which strength and beauty of finish are required and which permits of the adaptation of the finish of these articles to the general tone or finish of the 'room in which they,areioeated; ffmd th i vention is also applicable for the same reason located between the metal and the veneer and adherent to both. 7

2. A structural material consistin of a sdrbeht flexible e ose between the metal and the veneer an neer are adherent.

3. A structural material consisting of a body, and a layer 0 11' metal body, a coating of wood veneer therefor, and a layer of non-absorbent paper interposed between the metal and the'veneer, and

to which both metal and veneer are adherent.

LEMUEL COBURN.

WM. H. CHAPIN, K. I, CLEMONS.

to which both metal and yemetal body, a coatin of wood veneer the f, 

